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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1

Thematic dossier

Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024

CONCEPT OF GOVERNANCE IN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA:

PERCEPTIONS AND EVOLUTION

ANABELA SANTIAGO

anabela.santiago@ua.pt

PhD candidate in Public Policies at University of Aveiro (Portugal). She has a Master's Degree in

Chinese Studies from the same university. She is currently awarded with a doctoral grant

from Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. together with Macao

Scientific and Cultural Center, I.P. in Lisbon and member of GOVCOPP – Governance,

Competitiveness and Public Policies Research Unit at University of Aveiro. Her research

topics are: global health governance, multilateralism, social medicine and health

diplomacy.

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to present a literature review about the concept of ‘Governance’

within the Chinese context. When it comes to Chinese governance, most of the studies are

centered in corporate governance. Despite it is a relevant topic, this is not part of this

literature review scope of analysis. Instead, this paper focuses on Chinese contemporary

political governance, both at internal and external levels, from 1978 until 2022. The research

gap this literature review seeks to answer is if Chinese governance is reshaping the current

global order or fitting into it. There is no academic consensus regarding this matter, neither

from the field of Chinese studies, nor from political sciences. Mainly two different tendencies

emerge from scientific community: (i) one advocating peaceful rise and China as a ‘status quo

power’; and (ii) the other one advocating ‘China threat’ as a reality. Factors that evidence

both of them are analyzed in this paper that reconfirm the ambiguity of China’s position

towards Chinese governance and its position in global order.

Keywords

Governance, global order, multilateralism, status quo power, revisionist.

Resumo

O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar uma revisão de literatura sobre o conceito de

‘Governança’ no contexto chinês. Quando se trata de governança chinesa, a maioria dos

estudos centra-se na governação corporativa. Apesar de ser um tema relevante, não faz parte

do âmbito de análise desta revisão de literatura. Em vez disso, este artigo centra-se na

governação política contemporânea chinesa, tanto a nível interno como externo, de 1978 a

2022. A lacuna de investigação que esta revisão da literatura procura responder é se a

governação chinesa está a remodelar a actual ordem global ou a enquadrar-se nela. Não há

consenso acadêmico sobre este assunto, nem no campo dos estudos chineses, nem nas

ciências políticas. Principalmente duas tendências diferentes emergem da comunidade

científica: (i) uma que defende a ascensão pacífica e a China como uma “potência de status

quo”; e (ii) o outro que defende a “ameaça da China” como uma realidade. Os factores que

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1

Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024, pp. 47-58

Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

evidenciam ambos são analisados neste artigo, que reconfirmam a ambiguidade da posição

da China em relação à governação chinesa e a sua posição na ordem global.

Palavras-chave

Governança, ordem global, multilateralismo, poder do status quo, revisionista.

How to cite this article

Santiago, Anabela (2024). Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and

Evolution. Janus.net, e-journal of international relations, Thematic dossier “Historical and

Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia”, VOL14, N2, TD1, pp. 48-59, consulted [online] on date

of the last view. https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.DT24.3

Article received on May 29, 2023 and accepted on June 20, 2023

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1

Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024, pp. 47-58

Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

CONCEPT OF GOVERNANCE IN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA:

PERCEPTIONS AND EVOLUTION

ANABELA SANTIAGO

Introduction

Due to the fact that societies are dynamic and, as a consequence their arrangements and

needs change over time, politics and ways of governing must adapt over historic periods.

As most of societies in Western countries are already embracing neo-liberalism since a

long time, the term ‘government’ has slightly changed into ‘governance’, over the last

decades, as neo-liberalism ideologies started to reform the way governments behave.

As pointed out by Levi-Faur (2012: 27):

“The plurality of the modes of control reflect and reshape new ways of making politics,

new understanding of institutions of the state and beyond the state and allow us to explore

new ways for the control of risks, empowering citizens and promoting new and

experimentalist forms of democratic decision-making”.

Amongst several different definitions of ‘governance’ according to the sphere of scientific

area to which researchers belong, there is a common factor that is transversal to all of

them: the factor of change, mostly referred in literature as ‘shift’. The point is to

understand what kind of shift we are dealing with (Levi-Faur, 2012).

China has also shifted from ‘government’ to ‘governance’ itself. However, due mostly to

cultural aspects in interpretation of concepts, its position regarding inner and global

governance is not very clear. Although different perspectives will be outlined in the

findings section, from this literature review, it is possible to trace most common

tendencies in all analyzed papers: (i) the difficulty to understand China’s position and

goals in international society; (ii) its primacy for national interests over foreign policy;

(iii) its soft power and non-interference strategy; and finally, (iv) the different conceptions

of multilateralism and power.

Thus, this article is structured in the following way: this introduction is followed by the

methodology section, explaining the pathway for the procedures of this research, followed

then by the findings section, which is divided into main areas of analysis emerging from

the literature review – (i) governance; (ii) new global order; hegemony vs.

multilateralism; (iii) status quo power vs. revisionist power associated to global

governance. Finally, the conclusions section emphasizes the key ideas on the overall

analyzed topic, which is the concept of ‘governance’ in China and its evolution from 1980’s

until current days, concurring for the reshaping or preserving of current international

order standards.

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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1

Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024, pp. 47-58

Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

1. Methodology

This paper highlights the main characteristics of Chinese political governance and its role

in global order. The conclusions emerge from a literature review that was conducted

based on a primary search of articles in Scopus Elsevier scientific database. The choice

of Scopus as central database for this documents search is due to the fact that it is to be

one of the most relevant scientific database in social sciences domain, specifically in the

area of public policies, englobing the most well-reputed journals. Two combined set of

keywords were used in order to obtain the range of papers to be selected. In one hand,

searching for the expression “Chinese governance”, 81 articles were found. On the other

hand, searching for “People Republic of China”, plus “governance”, 359 results were

found. Some articles were the same in both combination of keywords used for the search,

so duplicated papers were removed and from the remaining universe of articles, a

selection was carried out according to some established criteria: the ones containing

“China” and “governance” in the keywords and the most cited ones (>90 citations).

So, following these criteria definition and after a first read of abstracts and keywords, 21

journal articles were selected according to their relevance for the theme of governance

and to the historic period under analysis (from 1978 to 2022), that is to say from the

Chinese reform of opening-up until current days. The research strategy englobing the

steps herein mentioned is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Steps of research strategy

Source: own elaboration

The final 21 selected articles were read in depth and categorized according to their scope.

Some additional scientific literature was taken into account after the reading of the core

set of 21 articles, in order to better frame the context and analysis itself.

In the next section, the concepts will be assessed according to “Chinese specificities” and

their relations of causality and interdependence; they will be described to obtain an

overview of the role of governance in contemporary China.

2. Findings

As already indicated, the literature review was carried out according to the scope of the

analyzed articles, which were categorized in accordance with the main perspective

developed by the authors. Then, several approaches were found in the existing literature:

(i) the concept of governance itself in its core meaning; (ii) the concepts of ‘Chinese

threat’ and ‘peaceful rise; and (iii) governance associated with new global order. All of

these approaches are fully developed in sections below.

Definition of

the research

aim

Identification

of the

keywords

Search in the

selected

database

Assessment of

the relevant

material

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1

Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024, pp. 47-58

Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

2.1 Concept of governance

There are many definitions of the term ‘governance’, however it is hard to find in literature

one that is completely precise and unambiguous due to the different perspectives from

which it can be described: political science, public policies, public administration,

international relations, economy and so on. In this paper, our assumptions will be based

in the assumption defended by Rhodes (1996: 652), which is that governance implies a

“change in the meaning of government, referring to a new process of governing; or a

changed condition of ordered rule or the new method by which society is governed”.

As per Jie Lu (2015:5), “governance is conventionally understood as the exercise of power

to structure, regulate, and coordinate the relationships among the populace in the

management of their public affairs. In addition, Michel Foucault, a French social theorist,

developed a similar concept – ‘governmentality’ – as “a means of understanding shifts in

relations between knowledge, power and subjectivity in the context of early modern

Western societies” (Sigley, 2006: 490).

According to the United Nations (2012), the principles of good governance are: (i)

participation; (ii) rule of law; (iii) transparency, responsiveness, equity, and

inclusiveness; (iv) orientation to consensus; (v) and finally, accountability. By its turn,

the Asian Development Bank has set out four basic elements of good governance in major

part similar to the previous ones: (i) accountability; (ii) predictability; (iii) participation;

(iv) and transparency (Lahtinen, 2010). The accumulated knowledge provided by years

of research in this topic leads us to also acknowledge that institutions have a critical role

to play in governance (Jie Lu, 2015).

Regarding the specificity of the concept applied to Chinese case, we can trace a brief

historical trajectory of its evolution from the birth of People’s Republic of China (1949)

until current days. Actually, Mao Zedong – Chinese CCP leader from 1949 onwards –

challenges the Western-dominated global governance, counterweighting with the core

guiding principles of Chinese foreign policy even until today – the Five Principles of

Peaceful Coexistence. After the reform of opening-up in 1979, China started to adhere to

international institutions standards and “adapted many domestic laws to conform to those

of other countries” (CFR, 2023). In the sequence of Chinese great economic progress, its

role in global governance was enhanced, with China even creating in last two decades its

own multilateral and regional arrangements, as well as governance institutions, such as

the ASEAN, the BRICS, the Shangai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Asian

Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB), taking

part then as a rule-maker (CFR, 2023; Noesselt, 2022). However, also at local levels,

governance suffered a restructuration as Chinese villages faced a significant rural-to-

urban migration of population seeking better benefits frequently associated to urban

areas (Jie Lu, 2015).

To better understand Chinese application of governance mechanisms, one should

understand primarily the politics and ideology of socialist market economy and all its

components in a separated way, and the new challenges it poses, such as: the ‘glocal’

politics, the emergence of ‘community building’, the emergence of concepts of ‘choice’

and ‘citizens’ participation’ in policies, and moral conduct, as well. Nevertheless, to

understand Chinese governance implies also understanding non-liberal contexts and

more particularly “the complex socio-historical terrain of modern China” (Sigley,

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Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

2006:489). In fact, in Chinese government’s discourses, a socialist market economy does

not require a ‘retreat of the State’; instead, it requires a changing in its approaches by

combining wisely neo-liberal and socialist strategies (Sigley, 2006). The Party itself

perceives its action in a different way: from a ‘revolutionary’ Party to a ‘ruling’ one whose

commitment is now, amongst other duties, to lead to a government that is ‘service-

oriented’ (Sigley, 2006; Palmer and Winiger, 2019).

Despite a certain degree of acceptance of neo-liberal ideals, translated by the progressive

acceptance of international accounting practices and the membership into neo-liberal

institutions and international organizations, like World Trade Organization, World Health

Organization, amongst others, the government is very assertive in its conviction that the

market economy requires a strong and powerful political system and, thus, the State

should not retreat, but should ‘regroup’ and implement governance in a ‘socialist manner’

(Sigley, 2006). The Chinese concept of governance incorporates then elements of market-

oriented economic reforms and state-led development (Hu, 2020). Overall, one can

observe that across time, from Mao (and even previously in imperial periods) to

contemporaneity, Chinese system of governance have been a unique balance between

authoritarianism, centralization; and political and administrative decentralization

(Bardhan, 2020).

This mix of neo-liberalism and authoritarianism acquires a particular dimension in Chinese

case, but this is not an exception, as it is possible to observe in Sigley (2006: 491):

“In the case of China, it is crucial to understand that although Maoist socialism, for

example, may seem as far removed from systems of Western liberalism as one can

imagine, all ‘modern’ systems of government are cut from the same cloth”. This crucial

aspect leads us to questions of global governance and new global order that are treated

in next sub-section.

2.2 New global order: hegemony vs. multilateralism

The period of emergence of academic studies about the ‘China rise’ was in the first decade

of new millennium, because previously international society had not realized the

proportion of such phenomenon and the consequences of China’s rapidly growing

economy for global order and, particularly, global governance. Currently, there is no

doubt, namely in academic field, that China is a new agent in global governance, whether

it pretends to be as such or not.

The point is to assess to what extent it leads to a peaceful and harmonious global order

or to a conflicting one, or even, in another perspective, to a hegemonic power or a

multilateral one (Gu et al., 2008). Currently, under Xi Jinping leadership – which is more

assertive than previous leaders – China affirms that the established institutions serve the

agenda of Western powers and are, for that reason, somehow obsolete (Drysdale, Triggs

and Wang 2017; Krign and Gallagher, 2019). In fact, China’s position is to combat any

form of unilateralism or hegemony, defending true multilateralism, advocating for more

equitable, effective and inclusive global development with a view to sharing the future of

development that lead to the current President Xi Jinping motto of “community of shared

future for mankind” (Athar, 2021).

Independently of the pathway followed, the point is that China already constitutes a huge

competitor for the access to energy and natural resources worldwide. Besides that, China

has big amounts of currency reserves, and investments in foreign sovereign debts, so its

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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

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Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024, pp. 47-58

Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

decisions in this field can create a huge impact in international order. Finally, it is

important to outline that the country also plays an important role in environmental issues,

as it is responsible for a big proportion of world’s greenhouse gases emissions (Erbach

and Jochheim, 2022).

To analyze these aspects and respective impacts, various authors have indicated in their

studies three main schools of thought: realism, liberalism, and constructivism. From the

realist perspective, every rising power tends to impose its ideology and materialistic

power (Friedberg, 2005) and China is not different, such as Mearsheimer (2001: 400)

said: “China, like all previous potential hegemons, [will] be strongly inclined to become

a real hegemon”. According to this perspective, China is not likely to achieve a peaceful

rise; it is instead seen as a threat that challenges the hegemonic power of United States

of America (Gu et al., 2008). Indeed, in recent years, especially after the outbreak of the

Covid-19 pandemic, the world has been witnessing a growing tension and rivalry between

the two countries: what was initially only seen as a trade war, soon derived into some

political tensions with the Taiwan question, the case of Xinjiang alleged violation of

human rights, the use of narratives such as the “Chinese virus” and a number of other

episodes of tension.

In turn, the liberalist perspective tends to see an interdependent order, derived from an

economic interdependency between trading states. The key aspects of liberalist point of

view are mutually reinforcing mechanisms, such as: (i) economic interdependence; (ii)

international institutions; (iii) and democratization (Friedberg, 2005). In the case of

China, liberalists tend to defend the concept of ‘peaceful rise’ as they believe that bilateral

or multilateral economic exchange promotes shared interests and good relations which

aims at preserving peace and avoid any kind of conflict (Friedberg, 2005). Regarding

international institutions, numbers are revealing: People’s Republic of China has been

increasing its membership in international governmental institutions and in international

non-governmental organizations, as well. For example, between 1977 and 1997 the

membership of formal governmental institutions, according to Friedberg (2005) increased

from 21 to 52. Even the issue of democratization as perceived in the West is for the

liberalists, especially for the most optimistic wing, just a question of time. In fact,

according to liberalism ideology, a rising per capita income leads to habits of freedom,

which in turn leads to democracy (Friedberg, 2005).

Finally, from the constructivist perspective, all political relations are ‘social constructions’

that are not only the result of trade and economic transactions, or even of material factors

like military forces and institutions, but also the result of intangible factors, namely:

cultural identities, strategic beliefs and norms (Wendt, 1999; Mendes, 2012). Thus,

concerning China, the more it is embedded in global institutions, the more its objectives

will comply with universal standards represented by these institutions (Friedberg, 2005).

China is currently a major player in world politics and should assume itself as such. Its

performance in terms of global governance is now much more at stake, because “with

great power comes great responsibility” (Friedberg, 2005).

2.3 Status quo power, revisionist one – what to expect relating to global

governance

In literature, one finds essentially two divergent thoughts about China’s position in global

governance. One related to China’s ‘peaceful rise’ and another related to what is called

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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

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Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

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Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

as ‘China threat’, as already referred. This one has emerged at first and is, for the majority

of its defenders, inevitable. Indeed, Kagan (2005: 1) uses history to state that:

“The history of rising powers, however, and their attempted "management" by

established powers provides little reason for confidence or comfort. Rarely have rising

powers risen without sparking a major war that reshaped the international system to

reflect new realities of power”.

Thus, according to this perspective, China is a conservative state that aims to a revisionist

reform in global governance and, consequently, has to be contained by current powers

of global order (Callahan, 2005). As China is a rising power, it is by definition dissatisfied

with United States’ hegemony according to real-politik argument (Johnston & Johnston,

2013). Besides that, revisionist powers in their more radical position normally reject the

primary institutions of international society, as they do not identify themselves with their

ideological bases (Buzan, 2010). Indeed, despite it aligns with some old institutions

especially in the UN agencies, China also belongs to recent economic and political

arrangements, especially regional ones such as the BRICS and the ASEAN (Stuenkel,

2020). In a rapidly changing international order, new arrangements especially involving

the Global South (developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean)

have arisen; China has actively sought to strengthen its ties with these countries through

various diplomatic, economic, and developmental initiatives and the so-called South-

south cooperation in an attempt to counter-balance the hegemony of the Global North

(Alden et al., 2005; Gray and Gills, 2016).

On the other hand, there is the reverse thought, the one which emphasizes China peaceful

rise. This involves an accommodation to the rules of international society and institutional

structures and a re-adaptation effort of established powers in order to adjust to new

disposition of power as well (Buzan, 2010). According to Gonzalez-Vicente (2015:96):

“In its attempt to present itself as a benign power, the Chinese state has elaborated a

discourse that separates diplomatic aspects from other interrelated dimensions, such as

economics, politics at scales other than the interstate system, society and culture”.

In addition, based on Chinese culture, there is a spirit of individual’s sacrifice for the

greater good of the group, which can lead to the famous parable used in games theory,

the Prisoner’s dilemma (Wang, 2016). As one evidence of Chinese effort to comply with

the norms of international arena, it has been increasing its responsible membership in

international organizations at regional and global levels, as a way of proving its intention

to rise peacefully and comply with the status quo order (Callahan, 2008). The compliance

with status quo order is one consequence of current Chinese priority to sustain the

economic development achieved so far, adopting a dual-circulation model in its 14th Five-

years Plan for sustainable development (Javed et al., 2023).

To achieve this economic sustainability, China needs stability in international relations,

both at the regional and at the global levels and this leads to a shift in policies from Mao

Zedong revolutionary character and antagonism regarding Western-dominated status

quo, to Deng Xiaoping’s policy of scientific development within the status quo order

(Buzan, 2010). By its turn, the objective of President Hu Jintao leadership (2003-2013)

of having a harmonious society and, by extension, a harmonious world is no more

sufficient to sustain the continuation of peaceful rise (Buzan, 2010).

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

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Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024, pp. 47-58

Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

The concept of community itself has been re-valorized and transformed into a specific

institutional model within systems of governance (Bray, 2006). From 2000 onwards, the

community is designated as “the basic unit of urban social, political and administrative

organization”, originating a new rationality of urban governance, overall after the massive

migration of peasants and rural workers into urban areas in 1980’s (Bray, 2006). Facing

new challenges like increased demands for child care and elderly assistance, the central

government has expanded the scope of community services even into areas including

“culture, health, environment, education, morality, policing, grassroots democracy and

‘Party building’” (Bray, 2006). Communitarianism is then seen as a flexible new technique

of governance. It is even extrapolated to foreign policy through Xi Jinping motto of

“Community of Shared Future for Mankind”, which represents a vision for global

cooperation and solidarity, aiming to address common challenges and promote a more

inclusive and prosperous world for all. Its implementation and effectiveness will depend

on the willingness of countries to engage in genuine dialogue, mutual respect, and

collective action (Chen, 2021; Zhao, 2018).

The “Community of Shared Future for Mankind” is not limited to government-to-

government cooperation, but also extends to people-to-people exchanges, cultural

dialogue, and mutual understanding. It encourages collaboration in areas such as trade,

investment, science and technology, education, and cultural exchanges, with the goal of

fostering harmony and common development (Zhao, 2018).

While the concept has gained traction in certain international forums and has been

embraced by some countries, it has also faced criticism and skepticism. Critics argue that

the community of shared future may be used to advance certain countries' geopolitical

interests or to promote a particular vision of global governance that may not align with

the principles and values of all nations.

3. Discussion/ Conclusions

Governance is a complex concept because it englobes various fields of analysis. This

literature review analyzed the concept and its relation with two major topics that derived

from the in-depth reading of the selected articles: the new global order (hegemony vs.

multilateralism) and the kind of position that China assumes in this global order (status

quo vs. revisionist power). The new global order might be translated into a transition

from a unipolar world order whose hegemony belongs so far to the United States of

America, to a multipolar world power composed by United States, Europe, China, Africa

and other developing states mainly from the Global South.

The definition of ‘governance’ considered in this study was the one given by Tony Saich

(2004: 22) as it relates directly with political science domain: “the functioning of

government institutions and administrative departments to the broader issues of how

individual citizens, groups and communities relate to the State”. Regarding the specificity

of the concept applied to Chinese case, it results from a range of characteristics, but we

can point out the main influential one, that is: the combination of a capitalist economy

with a one-party ruled, socialist and authoritarian political system, which challenges the

global governance status quo. In fact, at the global level, neo-liberal principles regarding

global governance remain dominant and if China continues to pursue its political

nationalism with emphasis on ‘China Dream’ values, then its governance is likely to be

more efficient and influent at the regional level, especially in the Global South. It is quite

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

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Title Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024, pp. 47-58

Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

difficult to characterize China’s position as a developing country aiming at fairer trade

conditions for other nations in the same case, tending thus to be a revisionist power; or,

on the contrary, an emerging power with its own interests in the maintenance of the

current order, shouldered by the World Trade Organization, being, for such reasons, a

status quo power. One can argue that during Maoist period, China was a revolutionary

revisionist power, while since the reform of opening-up and mostly since its entry into

World Trade Organization in 2001, it tends to be acting more in accordance with a status

quo power, in a logic of ‘peaceful rise’.

According to this literature review, it is possible to conclude that, starting from the late

nineties, and especially after 2001, China has been assuming a pragmatic and apolitical

model of governance, in an attempt to demonstrate the possibility of success of

alternatives to the Western dominant neo-liberal modes of governance; despite it is, at

the same time, adopting some new liberal techniques of governance. Finally, regarding

the research goal that oriented this study, it is possible to conclude that taking into

consideration the various perspectives observed in this review, it is quite difficult to define

China as a revisionist power or as a status quo power, because it presents a combination

of characteristics that pertain to both and it has been very successful in this blend of

features that turns Chinese governance so peculiar.

For now, its main concern is its national governance issues in order to secure the Party-

State’s main goal of economic growth sustainability, equitable distribution of income,

social cohesion and harmonious society with a revival of socialist values and Confucian

morality. In order to achieve this, translating its national growth into political bargaining

power, China is considering the global order and the ‘peaceful rise’ strategy as a subtle

way to obtain, at first, its domestic goals. It is then possible to conclude that, for the near

future, despite great progression in its path, China has a long way ahead to construct a

stronger sense of international society and mature its governance mechanisms.

This literature review identified the major aspects of governance applied to Chinese

context and suggests that more works would be interesting to be conducted with the

purpose of shedding light on other dimensions of the concept, namely on public and

private governance, e-governance and meta- governance.

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Concept of Governance in People's Republic of China: Perceptions and Evolution

Anabela Santiago

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